Tender moments in a film stay with you for a life time. Though any average movie lover realizes the difference between reality and reel-ality, a kiss, a gesture or a steamy make-out session can make you swell up with enough emotion to send a hot air balloon heading for the skies.

Great Expectations – The Kiss

Set to Patrick Doyle’s thrilling and exquisite track “Kissing in the Rain,” Finn runs through rainy NYC just to ask Estelle to dance while she’s having dinner with friends. Much to the shock of Estelle’s fiancé, they run out of the restaurant and back into the drenching rain to share a passionate kiss that will send goosebumps down your spine. The music, combined with the spontanaeity of the situation is breathtaking, heartbreaking and immensely meaningful.

The Wedding Date – The Boat Rendezvous

Kat returns from her sister’s bachelorette party to find Nick, the male escort she hired to make her ex-boyfriend jealous fast asleep, however it’s not long before she wakes him, instructs him to put on a shirt and leads him outside to the boat on her parent’s property. What follows is a short, but overall heart dropping scene that is sure to make you smile. In fact, you’ll like it so much, you’ll find the usually nasally annoying band Maroon 5′s song, “Secret,” that plays over the scene a perfect fit. It’s hard to tell what makes the this particular tender moment so, well, tender – the fact that it’s in a boat or Debra Messing’s quirky and dorky Kat paired with Dermot Mulroney’s cool and calm Nick is a match made in heaven.

Amelie – Exchange of Kisses

Amelie has sent her love interest Nino Quincampoix on a wild goose chase around Paris. After daydreaming about her and Nino together, she begins to cry. Suddenly, she hears a knock on her and sure enough it turns out to be Nino. He calls for her to no avail. Frozen in place, Amelie can’t bear to open the door. He slips her a note telling her that she will be right back. Amazed at what is taking place, Amelie is taken aback when she receives a phone call telling her to go into her bedroom. There, Raymond Dufayel, has set up a video tape warning her that if she does not go after Nino she will regret it immensely. “Eventually, your heart will become as dry and brittle as my skeleton. So, go get him, for Pete’s sake!” he says. She runs to to the door and opens it to find Nino there. What follows next is perhaps one of the most tender displays of emotion on film, so good that words can’t even do it justice. Just watch the video.

The Princess and the Warrior – I’ve Come to Suck Your Blood

Sissi, a shy nurse, is at a corner waiting to cross the street with one of her blind patients. Bodo is a reclusive man who has issues with controlling his emotions. When Bodo is on the run, after having stolen food, he hops on to the back of a truck to escape, much to the surprise of the truck driver, who turns back to yell at Bodo, missing a red light and striking Sissi to the ground and under the truck. Still on the run, Bodo thinks he can remain incognito by hiding under the truck, but is shocked to find Sissi under there, unable to breathe. He tells her he’ll be back, steals the straw from the blind patient’s drink, goes back under the truck and tells Sissi he’s going to help her breathe again. Though the next few moments might be hard to watch, they are part of a pivotal scene that changes the course of the film in its entirety. Bodo cuts a slit in Sissi’s neck, puts the straw in it and begins to suck out the blood that was blocking her airway. Gross? Perhaps. Sweet and endearing? More than you know

I’m a bit shocked at myself for not really mentioning this here before, but I (along with my best friend and sister) have a very big affinity for Indian culture and Bollywood. You can find us watching an Indian film almost every weekend of the year. Old, new, cheesy and works of art-we’ve seen them all. We’ve watched subtitled Hindi films so much, that we’ve picked up on certain words and use them in our daily exchanges with each other. I don’t know where India-mania all started from, but I feel a very strong connection to the people and culture.

Thirty-five miles away from my house, sits a city on the border of Los Angeles called Artesia. A typical Angeleno would rarely think of visiting such a town, but last weekend, we kidnapped my sister and took her to Artesia as a birthday gift. You see, Artesia is home to “Little India,” a tiny section of the city filled to the brim with Indian eateries, sari boutiques, jewelry stores and so much more. In short, it’s a dream come true.

Little India makes up a good portion of Pioneer Blvd and we couldn’t have been more eager to get out of the car and start exploring. After a long drive, we decided to eat, but because we had never been to Artesia before, we just happened to pick a restaurant randomly.

It’s a good thing we did, because Jay Bharat turned out to be included on a list of LA Weekly’s ” 99 Essential Restaurants in L.A” list, and let me tell you, it definitely deserved to be on that list.

The food was so good that we had almost finished it all before I had a chance to snap a photo.

The flavors were amazingly rich, almost like nothing I had ever tasted before. Peas, eggplant and potato were paired with coconut flakes and cinnamon. It was like a party in my mouth. The best part? The entire menu was vegetarian, not a meat dish in sight. I was truly happy.

Then we started walking down Pioneer Blvd, shocked and amazed at the beauty and detail of the clothes in the boutiques. Let me tell you, the photos below do not even capture half of the gorgeous saris in those shops. I was in such awe, that I forgot to take photos of the best ones – these are just what I could manage and they do not do the magnificence of the fabrics or stitching any justice.

Do not even get me started on the jewelry. I like to think I’m the type of girl who doesn’t care about sparkles or diamonds or glittery things, but no matter how much you try, you cannot resist that girly urge when surrounded by Indian jewelry.

Browsing for films was so enjoyable. We tried to find ones that we hadn’t seen, or that we couldn’t get on Netflix, but we ended up buying “Kahbi Alvida Naa Kehna” (Never Say Goodbye) a film that we had seen, just because it is so great.

You see that movie up there on the right hand side named “Salaam Namaste?” If you ever decide to venture into the wonderful world of Bollywood, it should definitely be on your top 10 list.

Since it was my sister’s birthday and it was most likely impossible to get a birthday cake, we settled on a dainty sweet shop to have some authentic Indian chai and a couple snacks, because, well, no day is complete without a daily dose of tea.

Again, these snacks we shared were unlike anything I had tasted before, except for the individual orange looking pastry on top, which is called “Jalebi” in Hindi, but “Zulubia” in Persian.

After the clothing and jewelry stores, there was only place left to go- the grocery store. I can’t really say why, but I love grocery stores, especially foreign ones. Indian supermarkets are like Heaven. Want proof? I found Lychee Jell-O. Yes, that’s right Lychee Jell-O. Amazing. They also have an amazing beauty section with masks and creams you will not find anywhere else, unless you went straight to Mumbai yourself. And you better believe I will trust an Indian beauty product over an American one-have you seen the beautiful skin Indian people have? Enough said.

All in all, it was on amazing Sunday afternoon that I completely and thoroughly enjoyed. If you’re ever in L.A and you’re feeling bored of the usual tinseltown activities, head on over to “Little India” in Artesia, I guarantee you wont be disappointed.

Dear blog of mine,

I’m sorry I’ve been ignoring you. In fact, I feel really bad about it. I’ve been meaning to update, I think about it every day, but the truth is, life just keeps getting in the way – that and writer’s block mostly. I’ve been tweeting more than anything. Listen, blog – this does not mean I don’t love you. Twitter is just a fun distraction, you’re the real thing honey. I mean it. Don’t be mad at me. Don’t look at me like that. I don’t like it when you’re mad at me. When you’re upset, I’m upset. I’ve had a very busy couple of weeks you know, lots of editing, selecting writers and reviewing articles. On top of that, I had to drag myself to Beverly Hills for a screening of Coraline, write a review for it which took forever.  On Tuesday I went to the Magic Castle, which is the second funnest place ever, next to Disneyland and although it was an amazing night (complete with me being called up to assist one of the sleight of hand magicians), I had to drink coffee the next day to stay awake and Lord knows I almost NEVER drink coffee. Yea, that’s how tired I was. Then there was more work and more headaches and traffic and procrastination and yea, you get the jist of it. I see brighter days in our future together, however. I feel some posts coming on, so don’t fret pudding.